Fire box



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IIS ` Ik. I x I Il. x I x I s l J. C. JENKINS FIRE BOX Filed Aug. 50, 1920 Dec. 11, 1923.

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Dec. 11, 1923.

J.C.JENNS FIRE BOX Filed Aug. Bo. 1920`A 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 11, 1923.

UNITED STATES JAIIS CHRISTIE JENKINS, OF KAYFOBD, WEST VIRGINIA.

FIRE Box.

Application illed August 30, 1920. Serial No. 406,832.

To all whom. z't may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES CHRISTIE JEN- xlNs, a citizen of the United States, residin at Kayford, in the county of- Kanawha an State of West Virginia, have invented a new and useful Fire Box, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object of this invention to provide novel means whereby air ma be introduced into the re box of a locomotlve, for the purpose of enhancing combustion, the construction being such that air ma be heated before being delivered into t e products of combustion,I the air being discharged at a point where it will be most effective.

It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that, within the scope of what is claimed, changes in the precise embodiment of the invention shown can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows in vertical section, a portion of a locomotive fire box wherein the device forming the subject matter of this application has been mounted; Figure 2 is a section taken a proximately on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; Fligure 3 is an elevation showing one of the bricks' Figure 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of F1gure 3; and Figure 5 is a top plan showing a modification in one of the bricks, parts appearing in section.

Although the invention may be embodied in boilers of widely different sorts, there is shown in the drawings, by way of illustration, the shell 1 of a locomotive boiler. The numeral 2 marks the crown sheet, the forward wall of the fire box appearing at 3, the numeral 4 designating the rear wall of the fire box, and the sides of the fire box being shown at 9. The grate appears at 5. Rearwardly and upwardly extended supports 6, which may be the ordinary water tubes, connect the forward wall 3 of the fire box and the rear wall 4 thereof. The space between the side walls 9 and the outermost supports 6 is filled by lines of outer bricks 7, the space between the remaining supports being filled b inner bricks 10. Forward bricks 8 are isposed a ainst the forward wall 3, in front of the bricks 7 and 10. The brlcks are shaped, wherever necessary, as indlcated at 11, to correspond with the cross sectional contour of the supports 6, the bricks terminating, as indicated by the numeral 2O in spaced relation to the rear wall 4. The bricks 7 and 10 have passages 12, alined with tapered passages 14 in the forward bricks 8, the various passages coacting to define flues. Each forward brick 8 is provided with a reduced neck 15 received within a thimble 16 mounted in the lower forward portion 17 of the boiler shell and in the lower portion of the forward wall 3 of the fire box, the thimble 16 communicatin with the atmosphere.

n practical operation, air enters through the thimbles 16 and through the necks 15 1nto the flues defined by the passages 14 and 12 in the bricks 7, 10 and 8. The air is heated to a high degree as it traverses the ues above alluded to, the heated air being delivered into the products of combustion at the point indicated by the numeral 20 in Figure 1 of the drawings. The air, discharged in a heated condition at the point above mentioned, results in a thorough consumption of the fuel. It is to be observed that the forward bricks 8 abut against the lower portion of the forward wall 3, it being impossible for the products of combustion to cut directly upward, in front of the foremost bricks 8.

As shown in Figure 5, the brick 10a may be providedat one end with a ared seat 19,

communicating with the passage 12 andadapted to receive a projection 18 on an adjoining brick.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

The combination withv the forward and rear walls of a fire box, supports extended between the rear wall and the forward andinclined downwardly toward the forward section of the brick, but of such a size as to leave solid portions at each side of each rear brick, said solid portions being thicker than those portions of the bricks which lie between the'passages of the bricks and the upper and lower surfaces of the bricks, and a forward brick against which the rear bricks thrust as they tend to slide down 'the supports, the forward brick abutting against the forward wall and having a reduced projectingneck received in the thimble, the forward rick having a passage communicating with the passages of the rear bricks, and tapered from the rear end of the forward brick to the neck, the passage of the forward 15 brick defining solid portions at the sides of the forward brick, said solid portions of the forward brick increasing in thickness from their rear ends thereby to bear the thrust transmitted from said solid side portions of the rear bricks.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES CHRISTIE JENKINS.

VVit-nesscs JosiAH KEELY, VERNON A. MILLER.- 

